The Last Stand - Hidden Meanings

[hekateras]

A little bit from Aziraphale and Crowley'ss exchange of wedding vows from the book climax that’s kind of kept bothering me. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate or not, but this jumped out at me recently:

“I’d just like to say,” Aziraphale said, “if we don’t get out of this, that… I’ll have known, deep down inside, that there was a spark of

Comments

[hsavinien]

Yes. This. <3

[mauvais_pli]

That's a lovely thought; however, for the sake of language, I'd like to point out that in Aziraphale's line, "that" is clearly latched on to "I'd just like to say" (notice how the second "that" also doesn't come straight after the verb, but after the complement of "deep down inside"). Thus I don't believe it's enough of a indicator of meaning - more of the awkwardness of Aziraphale saying it first and saying it at all (personally I don't think his inner bastard is very far inside, but that's another topic).

The tense itself and the fact he does say it is enough to interpret the exchange the way you do, in my opinion. I just doubt the wisdom of dragging random common conjunctions into it :]

[hekateras]

Possibly, but that makes it a superfluous 'that'.

While the argument that he's saying it at the wrong spot for what he means to say because he's awkwardly stumbling over his words holds water, there's also the meta argument: This is a climactic scene. I assume NG and PTerry and their editors went over it with more than a cursory glance, so presumably whatever oddness has remained is intentional, which is why I'm more liable to interpret weird things into tiny changes of sentence order than I would be otherwise.

Concerning Aziraphale's inner bastard: I agree that, objectively, it comes out a lot more than he would admit. But he's pretty keen on acting like a proper angel when the opportunity presents itself, seeming like a nice person even if he's currently in the process of telling you to kill the 12-year-old Antichrist or liberate the jeep from some soldiers.

[mauvais_pli]

Oh, man, I misread which 'that' you're referring to, so I sort of went on a tangent. Neverrrrmind.

Actually, this way, yes, they're both referring to Aziraphale with their respective "deep down inside"-s and it just serves to underline what a bastard the angel is, very Mr Darcy-ish-ly confessing with an insult, that only "deep down inside" he'll have known that Crowley is not a spawn of Hell. Oh well.

"Seeming" like a nice person is exactly the human side of him, I think, feeling the need to comform to what his advertised purpose is, as it were.

[ladymouse2]

What an observation! Such a little thing that could go unremarked in the midst of all the tension of the climax, but neither Gaiman nor Pratchett are casual in their wordsmithing. And to have both comments appear together in succession, means they intended to have the distinction pointed up.

I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughtful interpretation and marvel at your perspicacity. You open a whole new enjoyment of that scene for me. Thank you!

[ladymouse2]

oh, and, iembracetrees, I didn't intend to slight your contribution to the revelation.

The one discernment followed by the second casts that whole exchange into a new and far more touching light than the standard "manly exchange of casual words masking deep feeling" trope.